A FORMER Royal Marine and paralympian from Taunton joined Prince Harry for a Veterans' Mental Health Conference.

Corporal Phil Eaglesham, who competed in shooting for Ireland at the Rio 2016 Paralympics joined the Prince, who was chairing a discussion.

The Prince made a personal plea for military personnel with mental health issues to try to talk about their problems during the conference in London. 

The 32-year-old, who served as an Army officer for 10 years and was twice deployed to Afghanistan, said: "It is incredibly difficult to talk about mental health in the armed forces. It is still a very difficult conversation.

"As a military person, once you put that uniform on during your training, you are taught to be invincible and not to let anybody down.

"However, a lot of individuals prefer turning to alcohol rather than a friend."

Harry told the 210-strong audience that mental health issues are "not a life sentence".

He attended as part of the Heads Together mental health campaign which he leads with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

The gathering included former military personnel like himself, academics, and representatives from the NHS, the Ministry of Defence and mental health organisations.

The Prince chaired a discussion involving veterans about the help which can be triggered by powering through the stigma linked to mental health problems and having an open conversation about it.

The event was organised by the King's Centre for Military Health Research with the Forces In Mind Trust.

Harry said his "main fear" was that people will not get the appropriate help due to the "stigma" surrounding the situation.

Stressing that mental fitness is just as important as physical fitness, he said: "I am saying at this time to all the military people in this room and beyond - it is OK to have depression, it is OK to have anxiety and it is OK to have an adjustment disorder.

"We need to improve the conversation. We all have mental health in the same way we all have physical health."

Perhaps the only individual in the room who paid no attention to what Harry was saying was a 19-month-old dog called Cooper.

Somerset County Gazette:

Cooper with Cpl Eaglesham and Prince Harry

The golden labrador, which is an assistant to former Mr Eaglesham, yawned on stage and stood up to lick his owner in his wheelchair as the Prince was speaking.

Corporal Eaglesham, who is originally from County Tyrone, contracted Q Fever (Helmand Fever) in 2010 during his third tour in Afghanistan.

The deterioration in his physical condition has had a big impact on his mental health and his daily life, even making playing with his three children difficult.

Cpl Eaglesham said later: "Cooper sees when I am anxious and his coming up on my lap was him just trying to comfort me.

"He is great and he takes away some of the stigma that people have about coming up and speaking to me because I am in a wheelchair.

"Cooper does not mind being centre stage."

When Cpl Eaglesham became ill, people were more interested in whether he had PTSD, which he does not, rather than if he was struggling in any other way.

He said: "I remember things from Afghanistan but it does not ruin my day ... The things that challenge me every day is the things that I struggle with in my mental health."